The Other Half
by Silverythm
Summary: Marie-Yue Winters had always wondered about her family. Now, she is about to find out.
1. Chapter 1

Author's note: Okay I know I really shouldn't be starting a new fiction when I procrastinate so much for my other ones but I really couldn't get this plot bunny out of my head.

NOTE: please note that this fiction is superbly non-cannon.

* * *

The Other Half

It was a day like any other. Marie-Yue Winters sat by her window-sill, staring blankly down into the gardens below watching her father and younger brother play around in the lush green grass; still wet with morning dew. Watching her father, Marie's thoughts steered towards familiar ground. It was something she had always wondered whenever she looked at the family portrait that hung in the living room above the upright piano. Marie had always wondered why she never looked like her father. She resembled her mother greatly, with her dark and inky hair, small almond shaped eyes and button nose. Marie looked almost exactly like her mother but her facial structure, her cheek bones; they belonged to neither her father nor her mother.

Marie was no innocent. She knew what others said about her when they thought she couldn't hear. They called her the bastard child, the one that didn't belong. And perhaps, she really didn't belong. Her younger brother had a little of both her parents. He had his father's light brown hair and mossy green eyes; he had their mother's smooth cheeks and small mouth. Her brother looked every bit of the Asian-American that he was. But she, she looked completely Asian from every angle. She knew there just had to be something more to her family history. She had always known since she was old enough to recognize the subtle differences in facial structure. Many times she had asked her mother about it but always her mother would just say that she would never understand and that she should just be happy with what she had. But Marie was curious. She desperately wanted to know; and she knew that the answers to her long standing question lay hidden in her mother's homeland, Japan.

Marie was to leave for Japan tonight. She had got what she wanted. She had finally, after many years of asking, gotten permission from her mother to travel to Japan. She was to be her school's representative exchange student to the famous school of St. Lobelia Academy. St. Lobelia was famous for its performing arts and Marie's school, Mailand Academy of Fine Arts had strong ties with it.

Marie sighed a breath and misted her window glass. She slowly rose from her position and turned to look around her room. On her queen sized bed laid her suitcase that was only half full. She had much to do. She didn't know how she was going to find out more about her true past but she was determined to succeed. If Marie was anything, it was that she was a stubborn mule at most times, never stopping until she got what she wanted. Silently folding her clothes, Marie recalled what her mother had told her upon hearing that she was chosen to for the exchange trip.

"My daughter, I know that I can never stop you no matter how much I wish I could. You will keep going until you find what you want. But please my darling, keep in mind that sometimes, what you find is not always what you want. You're smart enough to know that you father, Paul, is not your true father by blood and I cannot say that I wish you luck in finding your father but I will tell you this. When you do find him, do not hate your father for what he has done; rather, admire his bravery in matters of the heart, and learn from his folly in matters of the world. He was escaping just as I was. I cannot find it in my heart to give you all the answers but I will only tell you that your father is a great man and that we parted as friends." All though her speech, Marie's mother never once looked into her eyes, she was instead staring into some unknown past, unreachable. "This is the only picture of your father that I have left. It was taken at our wedding." Then, her mother placed a photo, faced down, onto the table and left.

Marie had watched as her mother walked away from the dinning table. Only when she disappeared into the kitchen did she flip over the picture. The picture was a formal one, with the bride and groom both decked in white. Her father, it was the first time she had ever seen her father. He was very different from what she had imagined. He had a youthful face that seemed to have been aged by his grim smile. Then she noticed that everyone in the picture had a grim smile. An unhappy wedding. Now presented with her first clue, Marie was more excited than before.

It was night time now and Marie waved goodbye to her parents and sibling. This would be the first trip she had ever taken alone without anyone else. Taking in a deep breathe, Marie took a step forward and passed her passport to the immigration officer. Upon collecting her passport, Marie turned to look at her family one last time, her mother especially, memorizing that serene smile of hers before turning towards the departure lounge.

Behind the glass, Marie's mother whispered a small prayer for her daughter's safe trip.

* * *

Japan, the sun had just risen over the white sea of clouds. Marie looked out across the vast expense of cotton white fluff that stretched from end to end. She would be landing soon. Marie was beginning to have doubts now. What was the likely-hood that she would find her father by the time she had to return to America? All she had was the photo of her father's wedding to her mother and her mother's last name. How was she going to do this? Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the seat belt sign switching on. The plane was landing and Marie was a few meters closer to her ultimate goal.

In a dazed manner, Marie exited the plane and passed the customs officer. Like a virgin tourist she stared at everything, turning her head side to side, up and down. Walking out of the arrival hall, she browsed the sea of human faces and signs to find the one with her name on it. There. At the back, dressed in the Lobelia school uniform were three young ladies holding up a sign that said, "Marie-Yue Winters". Marie turned and walked towards them, her baggage rolling behind her.

"Hello Ms Winters, my name is Benio Amakusa and I will be your student escort for the duration of your stay. May I also introduce Chizuru Maihara from second year and Hinako Tsuwabuki from first year.

Marie smiled back at the three girls who had bowed to her respectively. Making use of what little knowledge she had of Japan's customs, she bowed to each of them and introduced herself. "Hello, I'm very pleased to meet all of you and may I say that I am very impressed with your English. Do forgive me for my sketchy Japanese."

With the introductions over, Marie left with the other three girls.

* * *

Author's note: Alright alright, I know that was rather short but I just wanted to try it out. I'm sure most of you can guess whose daughter she is. It's really obvious isn't it? Well, please feel free to review and tell me if you think I should continue. Thanks. 


	2. Chapter 2

Author's note: Hey, well, this would be my second chapter of The Other Half. I'm glad that at least some of you reviewed. For that, I thank you. It should be noted that this story generally evolves around Marie so the other characters may not play such a bit role. With nothing much else to say, I hereby present to you readers, The Other Half, Chapter 2

* * *

The Other Half

Chapter 2: Start of Lobelia

Marie stopped at mid-step as she was alighting from the vehicle. If she wasn't impressed by the ten inch screen, mini bar, top end stereo and genuine Italian leather interior of the sleek stretch limousine that was her carriage, she was certainly blown away by the majesty of the house that stood in all its glory before her; the light of the sun shinning out from behind casting shadows that encompassed the front garden and all who stood in it only served to further intensify the grandeur of the mansion. Never had Marie had the privilege to set foot in a home such as this. Thanking the chauffer who held the door open for her, Marie walked up to her new friends who were beckoning to her from the front door of the building. For a moment, she was concerned about her baggage but the girls only assured her that the servant could handle it. Shrugging off her hesitation, Marie followed the girls.

"Mon Cherie Marie! Welcome to my home, shall we start your tour now or do you want to see your room first?" asked Benio.

Smiling, Marie replied, "Is it alright if I see my room first? I'm rather tired and sort of want to freshen up first."

Agreeing, the girls led Marie up a flight of stairs to the west wing of the house. As they passed each door, Marie was given a mini tour. After the girls left her in her room with the promise to wait in the living room with snacks, Marie closed the door and leaned against it. Without rhyme or reason except the excuse of jet lag, she fell into the soft down feather mattress and sunk into darkness.

It was well past midnight now and Marie was suffering her folly. She should not have allowed herself to fall asleep this afternoon. Now the shores of sleep were well beyond her reach and she was as awake as the security guard that was currently patrolling the grounds under her bedroom window. Letting herself fall back into the bed, Marie stared blankly at the ceiling recalling the day's events.

Not long after she had fallen asleep, the girls had come to look for her. Upon finding her sleeping so peacefully, the girls had decided to let her rest. Or so she was told by them. Although their version of the events included much more exaggerated description including something about her looking like an angel fallen from heaven with wisps of hair here and there and what not. Certainly when she had awoken earlier that evening, Marie was very much embarrassed but she was thankful that the girls were gracious in assuring her that she had not offended them by falling asleep on them. Yet thinking as she was, Marie still found her thoughts wandering towards the topic of her family.

How was her mother now; she wondered. Her brother, her father; she hoped they were well. And how about her real father, was he even still alive? Was this rational? Was it rational for her to come all the way here just to find some guy who, from what she could tell, left her mother pregnant with her, taking no responsibility whatsoever? Some guy who could very well be six feet under at this very point in time! It wasn't the least bit rational she admitted to herself, but with all the powers of faith trust and pixie dust, Marie just somehow knew that he was somewhere out there. Something in her heart told her that there was something very important she had yet to discover about her true father and that only when she met him would she understand. Giving out another loud sigh, Marie pushed herself off the plush mattress and started to unpack her clothes. School would begin the day after tomorrow on Monday. She had best try to get some proper rest lest she became a panda eyed zombie tomorrow. Tomorrow she was to have her first tour of the bustling city to Tokyo. She could only hope that she'd have the energy for it.

* * *

Energy… she had none. Yesterday's afternoon nap was certainly not the smartest idea. For thanks to her jetlag combined with last night's sleeplessness, Marie was exhausted and getting pulled around by the three energetic student escorts was of no help at all. Currently, they were chattering on about some up coming musical that their Zuka club was to perform next month.

"Oh, Marie-san, since you will be here for the next six months, you could be an honorary member of the Zuka Club! We would be very honored to have you!"

"Wah…?" rousing herself from the clutches of sleep, Marie tried to figure out what they were talking about. Sadly, she was too drowsy and merely replied with a "yeah, sure, whatever." Little did she know that her careless agreement was the just the beginning of much chaos to come.

This was it; the limo had arrived at the front gates of the St Lobelia Girls Academy. And Marie could not deny the flutters in her stomach. She was never really one for new experiences. Truth be told, she had always been a coward of sorts, never venturing out to forge new ground. Were she in a yellow wood, where two roads diverged, she would most honestly and instantly take the one most travelled by. To come all the way to Japan by herself, all by herself, when she could have chosen the Italy exchange program instead with her best friend, it was an achievement indeed; an achievement and testament of her strong determination to seek the truth of her past.

The hall was packed with students, the chattering of their conversations echoing the acoustics.

"Good Morning students, we have a visitor from America here today, she is from Mailand Academy of Fine Arts and will be here for six months. I hope you will be welcoming and proper hosts for the duration of her stay here with us."

When the introductions were all done with, Marie stepped off onto the stage. This was the first time she was ever up on stage without a prepared script or choreography. She was so unprepared and unsure of what to do. Thank heavens it was over. Now, all she had to do was get though the next six months without feeling homesick or miserable, find her father somewhere in this country, somehow force him into telling everything and finally decide where to go from there. Not so bad at least she had a plan.

"Come on Marie, its time to meet the school in person! Are you excited?!" asked Benio as she waltz out the doors of the auditorium held open by two girls wearing pink shirts and bowing. Marie briefly wondered if it was common practice for the juniors to do that for the seniors here at St. Lobelia; but her train of thought was cut short by the high pitched screams of the swarm of pink girls that were mobbing her student escorts. 'It's as though they're super stars of sorts. Well… that's different.' Indeed it was different from Mailand Academy. No one at her school was ever so revered. Certainly they had their popular crowd but they were nothing like this. And to think that they even needed student officials to hold off the mob. Incredible.

* * *

Marie was exhausted. Studying in Japan was harder than she expected. For one, practically ALL the classes she took were in Japanese. This is not to say that she had terrible Japanese but it was just that she was only fluent with conversational Japanese. Words like "induction", "refractive index" and "chloroplast" were far beyond her reach. To add to that, her American accent got in the way making it very difficult for the other students to catch what she was trying to say. The only good part about the whole language problem was that her hosts were fluent with English and this assisted her greatly.

Another exhausting thing was the numerous fans that kept trying to mob her escorts. It was so odd that even after a full day of experiencing it, Marie still couldn't get over it. Of course the good part was that with all the lunch bento boxes offered to the three campus superstars, Marie was spared from having to pay for her own lunch. At this rate, she may just have enough at the end of the stay to buy that tea set she during her whirlwind tour of Tokyo the other day for her mother. Marie's family wasn't poor per say, but neither were they rich. She was from one of those slightly above average income families and if it were not for the fact that all the exchange programs are subsidized by her school and that she had a host, she would not have been able to afford both the cost of schooling and living in Japan.

In any case, today was a rather good day despite the mishaps. The students were all very welcoming, the school had excellent facilities, an impressive history and cultural back ground, and the staff was all very nice. Overall, Marie found it to be quite a good day.

* * *

Author's note: Okay I'd admit this took really long to come out and it seems like it doesn't have a purpose but to put it simply it's just to move along Marie's journey into Japan so that she can meet the Host club soon.


	3. Chapter 3

The Other Half

Chapter 3: The Zuka Club Counterpart

It was now one week since the start of Marie's schooling at St. Lobelia. In the past week, she had come to appreciate the odd quirks and wonderful aspects of the school. The student mobs were still overwhelming but she had gotten used to it now. Well, that and the fact that she discovered how much of a sanctuary the library was. Very few people came into the school library and those that did were all isolationist who stuck to their own research.

Marie herself was engrossed in her own research. And as of yet, she had yet to yield fruitful results. Firstly, her mother's surname, Tanaka, was very common in Japan; and apparently, so was her mother's first name, Mizuki. To add onto her troubles, she didn't even know which part of Japan her mother came from and thus couldn't narrow down her search. Furthermore, everything was in JAPANESE! To put it simply, it was torturous to plough though all the web-pages and sieve thought the search results. Most of them were blogs and useless articles about school research and what not. It wasn't that she disliked Japanese, it was just that having everything in Japanese made it difficult for her to understand and slowed down her progress significantly. Marie spent more of her time ploughing though a dictionary to translate the web-pages than anything else and it was really frustrating for her to go though all that trouble only to discover that they were irrelevant to her search.

Marie was just about ready to bang her head against the computer screen in her frustration. Thankfully, the three Zuka girls decided to enter at this very moment and save her from self-inflicted brain damage.

"Marie-chan! There you are! We've been looking all over for you! Come on, we want to bring you somewhere." Benio babbled as both Chizuru and Hinako dragged her out of her seat.

"Hey girls… erm… if I may so ask, where are you taking me? I didn't even get the chance to log out from the computer!" protested Marie as she let herself be pulled along. One week of being pulled left right and centre by the three girls had taught her that it was useless to struggle. After all, it was very difficult to escape when the people you are trying to escape from have control over practically the whole student population who were all very willing to assist her escorts in the task of leading her around.

"We, my dear girl are going to crash the detestable Ouran High School Host club."

"Wait, stop. Firstly, who or what is the Ouran High School Host Club, and why are we crashing it?"

"The Ouran High School Host Club is a club that uses flashy looks to create fictitious love and fool the pure heart of maidens and we are crashing it; firstly, because it's entertaining to rile them up and secondly because we must fight to close down the club which continues to degrade the female race!" claimed Benio with a great amount of passion.

Marie didn't know how to respond. 'A host club…right… I can't believe that such a thing exists... and to think that we are going to crash it. These girls have way too much time on their hands.'

* * *

There it was, Ouran High School. It was big and it was grand. And for some odd reason, there was an endless rain of blue rose petals. Distracted by the rose petals, Marie didn't notice her friends walk up to the fancy school gates and start to do pirouettes. However, when she did notice, she could only stare.

"What are you doing?"

Stopping their turns at exactly the same time and in exactly the same position, Chizuru was the one who answered her.

"We have to do our warm up pirouettes to prepare us for the oncoming battle with the Host club."

Marie was speechless. 'Warm up for battle with the Host Club? Right…' then the gates of the school swung open automatically and Marie followed along having given up to understanding her friends.

Following a slight distance from behind her friends who were too distracted by the thought of disturbing the Host Club to notice, Marie watched her friends' antics and could only shake her head at their… weirdness.

When they reached the door of what was labeled as the 3rd Music Room, Marie watched on cautiously as they swung the doors open. From the door came a swirling wind of rose petals, this time, red ones. A sparkling blinding light followed and there in the centre of the room were seven men assembled around a love seat all dressed in different Roman costumes.

"Welco- why are you here!"

They unified greeting was cut short by an outburst from the blonde one dressed as a roman emperor.

Surprised at the lack of customers as she had expected and at the costume, Marie inched up behind Hinako and whispered in her ear, "this is the Host club?"

But Marie's whisper was loud enough to be heard by everyone thus calling their attention to her.

As Hinako answered yes, the taller blonde started walking up towards her all the while sprouting some nonsense about her beauty, grace and other qualities that she did not posses. Ignoring him, Marie swept her eyes on the remaining guys, scrutinizing them. As an artist, Marie had to have a keen eye for detail so as to portray her art subject as it should be portrayed. They were all either very handsome or cute, she noted, and each one of them had a different stance and posture giving Marie a small clue to their personalities. The tallest one had a black face with a strong stance, his eyes told Marie that he too was scrutinizing her but it was subtle. A warrior or fighter she decided based on the way he was evaluating her; the same way a fighter sizes up his opponent before battle. The black haired one with glasses was a fighter as well; but he, he held the position of one who would fight in a battle of wits rather than strength. A strategist; calculative eyes only just visible above the seemingly opaque glasses. The twins were also observing her carefully but they held only the air of curiosity and nothing more. The shorter brunette, indifferent and not interested; the pragmatic one. The shorter blonde, a soft toy. The taller blonde, flamboyant and dramatic. Marie didn't know what to think of them but looking at them now, "They are the host club? They look more like they belong in the drama club."

It was here that the black haired one with spectacles spoke.

"We are indeed the Host Club and occasionally hold thematic sessions depending on the whim and fancy of our club president. And now the question is, who may you be?"

"Marie Yue Winters, pleased to meet you. And you would be?"

"Winters-san, may I present to you, Ohtori Kyouya, the cool type, Hitachin Hikaru and Kaoru, the devil type, Fujioka Haruhi, the natural rookie type, Morinozuka Takashi, the wild type, Haninozuka Mitsukuni, the cute type," Tamaki said all this each time pointing to the respective host, "and finally, I, Suoh Tamaki, the princely type." As he said this, Suoh did the prince charming shake head hair flying move from shrek and extended a rose to her.

Blink. Marie didn't know how to react to all this… sparkles and rose imprinted backgrounds. So she gave her normal spectical reaction of "Right……"

The other girls, having had enough of being ignored, stomped up to Tamaki and snatched the rose out of his hand, throwing it on to the floor and scolded him.

"How dare you try to ensnare our sweet Marie with your false words and bombastic looks!"

Under the constant onslaught, Suoh, Marie observed, ran to hide behind Ohtori all the while crying out something that sounded like "Mother, they're so mean!"

'Amusing.' thought Marie as she watched the chaos of the Zuka Club and the Host club coming together. She was interrupted by her thoughts when the brunette, Fujioka she believed, came to her offering her a cup of tea. This brought the two warring groups attention back to the two of them.

"Haruhi! How can you offer that Lobelian coffee!"

"Oh! Fair maiden, how kind of you to care for our dear Marie, you truly do posses the marks of a true maiden, won't you come away with us?"

"Haruhi is ours! Stop trying to steal her away!"

"Nonsense, this is obviously an inappropriate environment for her. She cannot bloom into the beautiful flower that she is in this kind of junk. She should come with us where she will be properly nurtured."

"If I may so state that Ms Fujioka currently as obligations to our club and any attempt to null her responsibilities are inadvisable." (Glasses gleam)

Taking a few steps back from the arguing mess, Marie accepted to cup to tea from Haruhi and sipped it slowly while leaning against the wall. Turning to face the shorter boy, Marie asked, "Are they always like this?"

"Yes it's very tiresome."

"Hm, so you're the sane one around here I guess."

"I suppose so. You have a foreign accent. May I ask of its origin?"

"Sure, I'm Japanese by blood but I was raised in America."

"Oh, I see, so you moved back to attend Lobelia?"

"No, not really, I'm on a six month exchange program. That's all"

As the rest of the Host Club and the three Lobelia girls continued to fight, Marie and Haruhi left the Music room chatting all the while. As Haruhi brought Marie for a tour around the school, they talked about everything and anything. Haruhi told Marie about what happened the first time the Zuka Club dropped by making her laugh at the imagery. Marie told Haruhi about the craziness of Lobelia and the superstar status of the girls.

"It's actually quite annoying, especially since they're my escorts and I don't like crowds. Wow, a rose hedge labyrinth, I'm impressed."

As the two unlikely pairs got to the fountain at the centre, Marie turned to Haruhi.

"I've got to ask. You're not a boy are you?"

"Eh? How could you tell?"

"It's simple really, its obvious when you look at your body shape and structure, your pitch of voice and the way you move. It's not very obvious but you can see it if you look carefully. Well okay, **you** won't be able to see it but others will if they observe properly."

"Oh. I see."

"Well, I think it's about time for us to go back don't you think? I wouldn't want the girls to leave without me because then I'd have no idea how to get back from here."

The moment the girls opened the Music Room doors, Marie was assaulted with a sobbing blonde who was crying aloud about "where have you been" and "I was so worried!" It was more exaggerated when he said it though. So engrossed in his hysterics was Tamaki that he never noticed he had assaulted the wrong girl.

"Excuse me, can you please let go, you're invading my personal space," drawled Marie as she shoved Tamaki off her. "And for the record, I am not Fujioka-san. I can't believe I just got molested. Are you sure you're the princely type because I'm quite certain Prince Charming would have more honor than that."

At the harsh tone of her accusation, Tamaki's face turned red and he started to stumble back, falling into the arms of his fellow hosts; devastation written all over his face. Her student escorts however, were sporting smirks of triumph.

"Do you see fair maiden, the treachery of your Host Club? Will you not take our hand and let us save you from this horrible place?"

By routine, Haruhi declined politely leaving the girls no other excuse to stay especially in their moment of triumph when Marie had taken down the Host Club president with just a few words.

"Very well, we shall take our leave but we will return fair maiden to rescue you when you realize that they are not worthy of you." With that the three girls left out the door, blue rose petals, showering down them. All this while not realizing that they had left Marie behind since they were not used to having one more person in their Supreme Zuka Team.

"Chaînés, Chaînés and rose petals. Why can't they just walk out like normal people. Honestly," Marie shook her head at her friend's antics before turning to the host club. "Sorry to have caused trouble but you really shouldn't invade my personal space like this. Fujioka-san, I'd love to take you up on your offer, drop me a call alright? Well, goodbye." With that, Marie sort of curtsied, turned and left.

Little did she know that her words had stirred up even more trouble.

* * *

Author's note: well, that's it for chapter 3, kind of weak I know but it's just that this is not where I want to put my focus on. I want to focus on Marie finding her father but it's unrealistic for her to find out so soon so yeah. The host club interaction was a little too little I suppose but currently they're strangers, it would be odd for her to just pick a fight or get along with all of them just like that.


End file.
